The 19th Century Club began a new tradition on Oct. 3, when 35 guests came for supper. Family-style Sunday suppers are now available at the club from 5 to 7 p.m., according to head chef Angie Segura, a graduate of the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago. Guests are welcome to bring their own bottles. Tables are set for six, so diners have a chance to socialize with other guests.

In his first book, There Are No Children Here, author Alex Kotlowitz painted a vivid picture of one of Chicago's bleakest neighborhoods. Through facts, interviews, and a detailed look at life through the eyes of two boys in the Henry Horner projects (Pharoah and Lafayette Rivers), Kotlowitz called attention to issues of race, poverty, and urban policy.

Our Town turned on its head." That's how director Paul Noble describes The Laramie Project, a docudrama about the murder of Matthew Shepard now in the midst of its two-weekend run at Oak Park and River Forest High School.

Christmas is not that important. There's a jarring sentence. Try it on for size. Go to a mirror, look yourself in the eye, and say it out loud: "Christmas is not that important." Say it several times?#34;until the anxiety attack subsides.

Forty years ago in 1959, Oak Park and River Forest were in the midst of a banner holiday season. The stores in the popular Lake-Harlem "shopping hub" were jammed with shoppers. Before the opening of Oak Brook, Yorktown, Winston Park, and other shopping centers, Oak Park reigned supreme as a regional shopping destination.

The Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest is raising funds by selling original art notecards. The artwork was inspired by members of the symphony, as captured in photos taken by the conductor's wife. The artists are Leslye Madden of River Forest and Jane Ferris, a mural painter and cellist with the symphony.